U.S.& WORLD NEWS DIGEST

Funds for health program blocked

WASHINGTON

The House has voted to block money for a program in last year’s health-care law providing for construction of school-based health centers.

House Republicans objected to the authority given the health and human services secretary to distribute grants for the program without getting congressional approval. The bill’s sponsor, Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess, says the House is obligated to oversee the money that is spent on behalf of the people of the United States.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation would save the government about $100 million.

The vote came a day after House Republicans passed a bill to stop funding a key element of the health-care law, the establishment of state-based health-insurance exchanges. Neither bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Spammers jump on bin Laden news

Web surfers beware: Online thieves and spammers are using the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden to send out malicious software and spam to unwitting Internet users.

Scammers often use big news events, celebrity gossip and every other tool they can to send out spam. By clicking links that purport to be to photos of the dead bin Laden, or videos of his killing, users can download computer viruses that steal personal information or otherwise infect their computers.

Security experts say avoiding questionable sites by reading their URL, or address, from left to right should help weed out fake links. Having up-to-date security software also is crucial.

Mosque-bombing suspect fatally shot

ORIENTA, Okla.

FBI officials say a man wanted in the bombing of a Florida mosque has been shot and killed when he brandished a weapon as agents tried to serve an arrest warrant in northwest Oklahoma.

FBI Special Agent Jeff Wescott in Jacksonville, Fla., said 46-year-old Sandlin Matthews Smith was shot Wednesday as agents and state law enforcement agents approached him in a field at Glass Mountain State Park near Fairview.

Wescott says Smith was facing federal charges in connection with the May 10, 2010, bombing of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville. No one was injured in that explosion.

Agent Clayton Simmonds at the FBI’s Oklahoma City office says it’s unclear why Smith was in Oklahoma but that they received a tip he was in the Fairview area.

Seven arrested in tourist’s death

SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco police have arrested seven people in connection with the fatal shooting of a German tourist they say was caught in crossfire between rival gangs.

Lt. Lea Militello says four men were arrested and charged Wednesday with murder, while another man and two male juveniles were charged with accessory to murder of 50-year-old Mechthild Schroer last summer.

Investigators say Schroer was an innocent bystander who was hit by gang gunfire during a confrontation outside a comedy club. She was in the U.S. to celebrate her birthday and wedding anniversary.

Investigators say she was looking for a place to eat with her husband in the popular Union Square area where she was shot.

Police said they are looking for an eighth suspect.

Associated Press